The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) delivered some good and bad news on Wednesday for people in favor of having fall sports. They accepted the recommendations of their Sports Medicine Advisory Committee to move forward with the upcoming season. The bad news is they would need to follow state guidelines which as written do not allow for fans.
That's going to be a difficult thing because we would like to see parents, especially of senior athletes, be able to see their student-athletes in their final seasons," explained PIAA Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi. "But that decision right now is out of our hands, but we will continue to work and try to give that guidance."
Part of giving that guidance is receiving some more guidance from the Governor's office and Pennsylvania Department of Health. For outdoor events separate from high school sports, the limit on the amount of people is 250. That number would allow essential people and athletes involved in the contest along with a family member or two of the players. It gets real sticky with the indoor sports if the number is limited to 25.
"We continue to work diligently to get that 25 softened a little bit to assist some of our sports especially in the immediate fall, girls volleyball and water polo," said Dr. Lombardi. We'll do our darndest to adapt and be flexible but we're trying to see if we can have just some reasonable accommodations."
The PIAA is still waiting to hear back from the Governor's office and Department of Health about their request. FOX43 also reached out to the offices on Friday morning and will pass along their response when it is received.